


The Mysterious Gems

by FireWasp, ScribbleSibyl



Category: South Park, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Kyman - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Steven Universe AU, style
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-07-24 12:58:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16175546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireWasp/pseuds/FireWasp, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScribbleSibyl/pseuds/ScribbleSibyl
Summary: Four mysterious beings choose Earth to be their sanctuary. Fighting against former allies, they'll save the planet... though mostly by coincidence.-Steven Universe Crossover-Art by https://kofukune.tumblr.com/





	1. Chapter 1

                            

 

Citrine, Emerald and Moonstone stared into the black atmosphere, their eyes wide and bodies frozen while witnessing the bright light of freshly launched escape pods being released into space. The pods attached themselves to the other aircraft that was very close by.

“My ship!” Emerald exclaimed, his fists pounding on the glass window. 

Before Moonstone could suggest a way to stop them, the stolen spaceship lit up for just a few seconds before heading straight for Earth. Emerald cried out while clenching his teeth together. His skin was a light green, though in this moment, his cheeks had become a darker hue.

“Emerald, let’s just follow them-”

“Are you serious!?” Emerald seethed, cutting off Moonstone’s sentence. “They never would’ve had the chance to do this if we waited for them to come to us as I suggested! But no! Instead, we jump on their shitty one!”

Citrine stared at Emerald, but his expression remained neutral as he spoke. “We should probably make sure they were the only three that were on board. Then we can worry about going after them.”

Emerald let out an exasperated growl as he walked over to the controls. Citrine and Moonstone waited for Emerald to finish and they all began to do a walkthrough of the foreign ship.

Each part of the ship was clear until they found the prison cells. Emerald held out his hand to stop Moonstone. "Wait, there's someone here."

Citrine had already started running ahead but retraced his steps to Emerald. "...In the prison?"

Emerald passed Moonstone and Citrine, stepping towards the cell.

The cell itself was completely charred on the inside. The gem had his back to the onlookers. Moonstone squinted and knelt, trying to get a closer look. He attempted to ignore the smell of burnt metal that was assaulting his nose.

"...Hello?" He asked.

The gem didn’t move. There were thin lines scraped into the metal wall he was facing, clearly tally marks. Moonstone turned back to Emerald and Citrine.

"Maybe he doesn't speak?"

"He doesn't look like one of ours,” Citrine said. “Why would they imprison him?"

"Who are you."

The group became uneasy as they heard the stranger’s voice. His head turned, his eyes lurking beneath his sweaty hair as he gave them a cold glare.

Despite the tension in the air, Emerald decided to introduce them.

"We're gems. Citrine, Moonstone, and I'm Emerald," Emerald said.

"We're the enemies of your captors," Citrine finished for Emerald. "What about you?"

The large red gem huffed and smoke came out of his nose. He turned his face back to the wall, cracked his neck loudly and sat up a little straighter.

“Ruby,” He growled. Moonstone tilted his head to the side in surprise.

“A Ruby? ...No. That can’t be right," Moonstone said. He stood up and leaned forward to get a better look at the oversized gem. “You’re way too big to be a Ruby. You’re lying.”

Ruby’s skin illuminated ever so slightly as he inhaled, the faint glow dulling as he exhaled. Emerald fidgeted as Ruby did this, unable to hide his fascination.

Citrine shrugged.

"There's plenty of red gems. Spinels, Almandines, Rhodonites..."

"Rubies produce heat. Especially when they’re angry," Emerald pointed out. Citrine glanced around Ruby’s singed cell, considering this.

"Yeah. This Ruby has a bad temper," Citrine said.

Ruby's shoulders tensed and he punched the wall, smoke shooting out from under his fist. The sound echoed off the walls and down the hallways, making the other gems flinch.

"I’ve been in here for like a hundred years! "

Ruby got to his feet, embers shooting from his nostrils before dissipating in smoke around his face. His eyes were piercing as he stared at the others and his chest began to heave with labored and rapid breaths.

Citrine looked on blankly at Ruby's enraged state. He pursed his lips as Emerald looked at him.

"What should we do?” Emerald asked. “We can't keep him here like this..."

"What did you do to be captured, Ruby?" Citrine asked, not looking away from the prisoner.

"I didn’t do anything! Where did you fucks even come from?!” Ruby yelled. Chains jangled as he attempted to gesture to them. The odd cuffs on his wrists appeared to be embedded in his skin.

Emerald raised an eyebrow. "Us fucks? ...What, rebels?" He asked unsurely, but his eyes lit up. "You saw other _rebels?_ Are there others?”

Ruby stopped moving and his steaming hands balled into fists.

“Rebels!” Ruby repeated in a scoff. “Yeah fucking right! What happened then?! How’d you beat them that fast? They were just in here like ten minutes ago! That’s fuckin bullshit!"

Moonstone looked at Citrine.

"He seems pretty... Unstable," He mumbled. Ruby glared at him, baring his teeth.

Citrine nodded to Moonstone. "We can't release him when he's scorching everything around him."

"But he's only mad because he's imprisoned. It's counterproductive to keep him in here." Emerald argued with a frown.

Moonstone shook his head. “Em, think about this a little more before you-”

“I am thinking about this! He’s been in there for years, so obviously he’d be angry. I would be too!” Emerald replied. “The least we could do is let him out and give him a chance.”

Citrine sighed. "He may have a temper like you Emerald, but that doesn't mean you know the whole story."

"Well, nobody does!" Emerald shot back quickly. "We actually encounter another  _gem_ that could be useful to our cause and you just wanna-"

Citrine met Emerald's eyes. Emerald went silent, stepping back slightly and averting his eyes.

"I... I-I mean... I'm just thinking of... the bigger picture."

There was a clear change in Ruby’s demeanor. He was much closer to them now, right in front of the forcefield in fact. His eyes were wide and bright, the glow on his skin dulled, and the smoke around him began to lessen as he stared at them.

"You wanna let me out...?" He asked in a much softer tone. "I can keep it in. It’s just-"

"Hard to control?" Moonstone finished for Ruby and crossed his arms. "And how do you know that it's just hard? What if you can't?"

"I CAN! Fuck you! I can PROVE it," Ruby growled. Hearing Ruby calm down a little more made Emerald's eyes light up, and he looked to Citrine.

"We'll give you a chance. Emerald will take control of the ship and bring us back to the planet.” Citrine said and shrugged when he saw the look on Emerald’s face. “We’ll deal with one situation at a time."

Emerald’s shoulders tensed, but he nodded. “Right.”

"Once we land, we'll dismantle the ship and see if you can handle being freed," Citrine continued. "And if you can't, we're gonna be forced to destabilize you."

“Whatever that means,” Ruby mumbled as he stared at his bound wrists in frustration.

Moonstone fidgeted, but he relented immediately and followed Emerald out of the prison. Citrine watched Ruby curiously, noting the way his brow furrowed in worry and how that seemed to be accompanied by more and more smoke.

"Make sure not to sear. Most of this planet's creatures can’t handle too much of a difference in their environmental temperatures."

“...Yeah,” Ruby replied, not looking up at him.

Citrine gave him a quizzical look and smiled. “Do you even know what I just said?”

Ruby met Citrine’s gaze at the question. He gave the orange gem a fake smile as a darker smoke wafted from his neck. “I’ll figure it out.”

Emerald dipped his fingers into the enemy ship's mainframe, quickly learning its software and beginning to land it. Moonstone caught up to Emerald and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"He's a prisoner of homeworld. He’ll be a great ally," Emerald said, glancing to Moonstone. "And even if he turns against us... he's nothing Prehnite can't handle."

Moonstone stared at Emerald affectionately and placed an encouraging hand on his shoulder. He smiled with newfound confidence.

Emerald turned back to the controls of the ship. "Hm... It'd be a better idea for us to land in a cold place... at least for the sake of the earthlings. Maybe I’ll set our base in the mountains..."

"Are we near water? Or maybe there's a nearby forest."

Emerald chuckled. "It's definitely got some nice structures. There's a lake nearby, so there’s some water, but we're landlocked. No oceans."

Ruby and Citrine had been staring at each other in silence for several minutes.

“So,” Ruby’s eyebrow twitched. “You’re just gonna let me go?”

Citrine looked him up and down coolly. “If you can prove you’re not a threat.”

Ruby’s body tensed.

“You don’t hurt me, I don’t hurt you.”

"Alright everyone, the ship has landed perfectly," Moonstone announced as he pulled Emerald down the hall and stopped in front of them. He did a double take at Ruby, then took a half step backward. Black smoke began to fill the cell that held Ruby. “...Is… everything okay?”

“Y-up.” Ruby replied, stifling a cough and remaining still as he glowed a dull red.

Moonstone’s already pale face turned sheet white.

“Em,” He called.

Emerald strode into the room at Moonstone’s request and immediately noticed the smoke.

“Is that... normal? For a Ruby?” Moonstone asked under his breath.

Emerald said nothing. He stared at the Ruby and their eyes met. The Ruby’s dull red glow turned noticeably brighter and he refused to look away. `

“...T..There's not really any manual way to shut off the anti-gem field. It doesn't seem like they had the intention to release him..." Emerald stammered, turning back to Citrine.

"That's fine. Use the tech jammer." Citrine instructed. Emerald's face paled in reaction. He opened his mouth to speak, but Citrine spoke again. "I'll go with Moonstone to scout out the area. You charge up the tech jammer. It'll make dismantling the ship a lot easier. And we can hide our location."

"..Really..?" Emerald said, frowning.

"...It's for the best." Citrine shrugged. He led the way out of the ship so that Moonstone would follow him, leaving Emerald alone with the prisoner.

Emerald's expression grew more dejected and irritated when Citrine left. A few moments of hesitation and his gem glowed as he took out a pod shaped device with an antenna and buttons on it. He huffed and let his back drop against the wall, frowning resentfully at the tech jammer. Ruby watched Emeralds every move, his eyes bright and curious. He mirrored Emerald and sank against the wall.

“The orange one is the leader…?” Ruby asked, this time not making eye contact at all as he struggled to keep his hands from trembling. The smoke continued to suffocate him, but he was relatively used to it.

“He has very good judgement. Most of the time.” Emerald said, squeezing the tech jammer in his hand. “This is particularly reckless, though… to just fry all the potential information here…”

His eyebrows came down and his eyelids lowered as he pressed a few buttons.

“But it has to be done.”

The lights in the ship went out and the anti-gem field vanished. The two were now in darkness, only able to see each other with the subtle glow of Emerald's gem and the light of Ruby's body.

"There. The sooner I get you out of there, the better, right?" Emerald asked, standing up.

Ruby stared straight ahead where the force field, the door to his cage, used to be. He stood and looked to his wrists once more. He swallowed dryly as his eyes followed the chain into the wall. He glanced at Emerald for a split second before squeezing his eyes shut. In one motion, his right bicep flexed and the chain was ripped out of the wall so violently that Ruby had to stop himself from falling over. Emerald flinched, astounded and wide eyed.

Ruby’s eyes snapped open, and in his exhale, he let out a sound similar to that of a frightened child. He collapsed forward with intense relief, staring at the disconnected chain laying on the floor in shock. Emerald let the silence sit for a few moments. His gem flickered with light and he raised a hand to his lips in a fist, clearing his throat.

“...You’re a very odd ruby.”

There was a strong uncertainty in Ruby's eyes as he looked up at Emerald.

“You’re really letting me go?” He asked.

Emerald’s hand remained hovering over his lips. “Go… well… Yes. You’ll be going outside with us and under constant supervision.”

“Like… Outside outside?”

Emerald broke eye contact with Ruby, hand tightly adjusting his collar. “Let’s get going.”

Ruby stumbled to his feet in a daze while staring at the entrance to his prison cell. He took a tiny step back as if to brace himself, clearly feeling a little more confident.

"...Is it...?" He asked in a quiet tone, reaching out with his hand and flinching back with a feared gasp the second he thought he was about to be electrocuted.

When nothing of the sort happened, a huge grin broke out on his face.

The smoke had dissipated at their feet. When their eyes met again, Ruby’s skin dulled and his oversized red gem glowed so brightly that it was almost hard to look at. His eyelids lowered and he walked through the cell, not stopping until he was standing right in front of Emerald.

Emerald tensed up in reaction to how close Ruby was, maybe a couple of inches of space between them. He had to look up at Ruby because of how tall he was. The heat coming off of his body was intense, but also inviting. His voice was just as warm.

“Thank you.”

Emerald stared at the other gem with big, engaged eyes. He glanced down at himself to notice that he’d subconsciously stood on the balls of his feet. He tore his gaze away from Ruby once again. “O-Of course.”

“You got lots of colors,” Ruby commented, staring at Emerald’s red hair.

Emerald’s green skin flushed and he automatically touched his hair. “Yeah. I’m an off-color.”

“I like it,” Ruby said, his gem still illuminating the darkness around them.

The smoke had cleared altogether.

Emerald took another glance at Ruby’s gemstone, eyes clearly fixating on it, before he turned away again. “We shouldn’t waste any more time here. Citrine and Moonstone are outside.”

Ruby looked over towards the entrance of the ship and he smiled. "Outside..."

Then he faltered.

“Wait, where are we?” 

Emerald let out a strange laugh. “What use would it be to tell you? You’d have no idea, even if I named the planet.”

“...Tell me anyway,” Ruby replied, his tone almost playful as he flashed a genuine smile.

Emerald’s face went blank. With a slight furrow of his brow, he answered.

“Earth.”

“Earth,” Ruby repeated.

Emerald frowned and hurriedly went for the exit of the ship, Ruby close behind. They were quickly met with Moonstone and Citrine.

“Good news. We spotted our ship in the atmosphere.” Citrine said.

“They probably want their ship back too, Emerald.” Moonstone said touching his shoulder. "I'm sure they weren't expecting our sneak attack."

“Right, I'm sure the Sapphire wasn't expecting anything like that at all,” Emerald growled. “Come on, Moon. He wanted my ship! I knew there was a reason he just let us in. He foresaw this! I said that too!"

Citrine was staring at the hardware in his hands, keeping an eye on where the last signal had been on the screen. 

Ruby stared up at the blue sky, his expression noticeably cautious.

“This don’t make sense…” He mumbled under his breath.

"I  _did_ warn him this would happen," Emerald mumbled to Moonstone.

“Yes... I know, Em. I see your point about wanting your ship over theirs," Moonstone chuckled as he gestured to the ship they just deactivated. “It’s inferior.”

“Well they want something. If they wanted to retrieve my ship, then they should be going back with it! They're just hovering over us,” Emerald replied. "I thought their job was just to keep us away from Homeworld."

"And to capture us all," Moonstone mumbled. Emerald rolled his eyes.

"Oh please," He crossed his arms. "They stopped trying to capture us fifty years ago _._  They know we're harmless without more rebels."

The smoke returned. It emanated from Ruby as he stood in the entrance of the ship and watched Emerald and Moonstone talk, steadily rising from his skin. It was dark and thick, even when coming out in small amounts.

“Well, think about it,” Moonstone said, “Yellow Diamond’s Sapphire used to act as a bounty hunter. He wants Citrine, if anything. I'm pretty sure Citrine's gotta be the only gem he hasn't captured successfully."

"He's never _tried_ to capture me," Citrine added without looking over. "Cuz there's no point."

“Stop it,” Ruby growled. This caught the attention of the others.

“...What?” Moonstone asked. Ruby’s eyes locked onto him.

“This is another trick…” His body tensed and he settled into a defensive stance. “I ain't doin this again!"

Moonstone glared and began to take a stance. Citrine held a hand up to Moonstone. “Easy.”

Ruby looked to Emerald then, his hands tightening into fists.

“You said you took their ship, but how do I know you ain't really one of them?!” Ruby demanded, embers falling from his singed knuckles. “How the fuck can I know that?! They made me think they were gonna let me go all the time! Made a show about it too!”

Emerald took a step back. “Why would I go through the trouble of damaging their entire fucking ship if I was on their side?”

“I--! It could be faked! They faked _outside_ before! Stop lyin! I'm not _stupid!_ ” Ruby said. His hands ignited. He looked down them. “Oh shit…!”

Moonstone rushed to Emerald’s side and stood between the two of them.

“You’d better get that under control right now,” Moonstone growled.

“...Ha! I forgot I could do this!” Ruby replied enthusiastically, distracted from the stressful topic that was being discussed mere moments ago.

“This is a bad idea.” Moonstone said through his teeth. He looked over his shoulder to Emerald.

“...No offense.”

Emerald’s only response was to stare at Ruby, who was currently attempting to put the fire in his hands out by smacking the side of the ship. Moonstone went on.

“We need to recapture your ship. This gem will only be a distraction."

"...He's just scared."

"He's a threat! We should destabilize him!”

“Oh yeah, give him a little taste of freedom and then rip it right out of his hands,” Emerald snapped. “What a liberating cause we’re building!”

Ruby clenched and unclenched his furiously smoking fists, just glad they were extinguished.

“He’s a danger to us!” Moonstone gestured to the fuming gem.

“Hey! I didn’t do nothing!” Ruby snapped, hands igniting again.

“You’re yelling out threats and spewing smoke everywhere! It's only a matter of time before you attack us,” Moonstone said.

"I'm ain't attackin you!"

"You're obviously dangerous!"

"No!"

Moonstone gestured impatiently. "Your hands are literally on fire!"

Ruby stared down at them, eyebrows furrowing in frustration at the flames.

Emerald locked eyes with Moonstone. “Passing judgment on gems before they even do anything wrong-

"He's doing several things-"

"-is exactly what a _Diamond_ would do.”

Moonstone went silent.

Emerald walked past Moonstone, squaring up to Ruby. His eyes were drawn to that gemstone on Ruby’s bicep. Ruby’s eyes widened and he laughed nervously, holding his hands above his head, not wanting to burn Emerald by accident. “H-Hang on, I’ll put it out.”

Emerald looked him over. 

“This Ruby is an anomaly. And on homeworld, an anomaly is synonymous with _dangerous._ And we may have been homeworld gems at one point, but that is the key difference between our views and theirs.”

Ruby’s eyes darted from Emerald to the fire he was holding up.

“The unknown isn’t something to be feared. Anomalies aren’t something to be controlled and imprisoned. And we are not homeworld.” Emerald’s eyes became sharp on Moonstone. “Unless we do what they do.”

Moonstone pursed his lips, then looked to the ground silently. When Emerald turned to look at Ruby, the red gem swiftly hid his hands behind his back.

“So what’s uh... what's homeworld?” He asked, still attempting to put out the flames behind him by shaking out his engulfed hands.

Burning embers fell from his fingertips, setting fire to the grass behind him.

Moonstone tensed up at the sight and shot a quick blast of water out of his palm. It startled Emerald slightly, but it didn’t take long for him to realize what happened. Ruby looked bewildered at the doused grass, his hands immediately going out with the new distraction.

“You can make water out of nothing!” He exclaimed.

“It’s a good thing, too,” Citrine finally spoke up again. “Aside from Sapphires, Moonstones are good at controlling Rubies.”

Ruby took several steps away from Moonstone as black smoke began to trickle down his arms.

“Sapphires? Is he like _Sapphire?_ ”

Emerald gave Ruby a very concerned look. “...No. He can only use water.”

“And ice!” Ruby bared his teeth. 

“I don’t make ice,” Moonstone said. “Why does that even matter?”

“Ruby,” Emerald said softly. “He’s made to be a gentle helper. He’s not a Sapphire at all.”

Relief seemed to flood through Ruby and he exhaled audibly.

“Everything okay?” Citrine asked.

Ruby didn't answer as he walked past Emerald, the black smoke dissipating as he moved. He redirected his attention to the scenery around them, noticing it more as his paranoia disappeared.

“We should probably stop dawdling.” Emerald said, “I think we should make a temporary base, maybe up in the mountains. The magnetic interference would make us undetectable by my ship’s readings, and theirs is basically useless. So whatever they want out of us will be hard to get if they can't find us. Though, knowing Sapphire and his future vision nonsense, it might be pointless to try and evade them.”

Citrine walked over to said ship, peeking inside. “You sure you can’t use any of this stuff?”

Emerald glanced back at it. “...It wasn’t designed by me, but...”

“You’re more than capable of manipulating their inferior tech to suit your needs, Em.” Moonstone piped up. “We would have to physically move it, though.”

Citrine cracked his fingers and flexed them. “Okay, this might be tough. Hey Ruby,”

“Yeah,” Ruby looked back when he heard his name, the chipmunk he was gawking at dashing away at the sound of his loud voice. He walked over.

“You look like a big strong gem. Wanna help me carry this?” Citrine said, slapping the metal. Moonstone rolled his eyes.

Ruby didn’t hesitate at the invitation, a sly smirk on his face. He scooped his hand under the base of the ship, searching for a good hold, before lifting the structure right over his head with one hand.

“Pfft. Easy,” He said.

Emerald couldn’t help but gawk at the sight. He made sure not to stare for too long.

Citrine grinned wide. “We’re gonna be good friends, Ruby.”

Ruby stared at him, thrown off by that.

“Think you can keep that up or should I help just in case?” He said, circling around the back of the ship. Ruby laughed out loud at the idea of needing help and started walking away before Citrine could touch it.

Citrine sighed contentedly. “Good to have soldiers back on the team.”

“Hey, we’re not built that way,” Emerald said behind him in irritation.

“Cuz you’re little?” Ruby asked. “My rubies were smaller than you and they lifted way heavier stuff.”

Emerald rolled his eyes. “Yes, you had normal ruby friends. All rubies are strong. They’re soldiers.”

“What are you talking about?” Ruby asked. 

Emerald’s expression became blank, looking back over his shoulder as Moonstone led the way into the mountains.

“Common soldiers. Used for lesser tasks,” Emerald said, “...What Diamond did you serve?”

Ruby looked at Emerald, his expression unchanging.

“What?”

“You were never sent on a mission, so you were guards. Obviously,” Emerald assumed.

“Ha! Guard what?” Ruby said. “Myself?”

“...So you were never used.”

“By _who?_ ”

Emerald looked absolutely shocked. “What, who was it? That slacker Pink?”

Moonstone snickered at the comment.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Ruby laughed.

“Okay, this is ridiculous. How do you not know which Diamond you served?” Emerald asked, his voice rising. “There’s no way one of them is humble enough not to tell you, even if they are ashamed of you being an anomaly.”

“Listen, if someone’s got a problem with me they can just say it and we’ll sort that shit out real quick,” Ruby replied, “Whoever this Diamond guy is, he can tell me to my face.”

“You really _didn’t_ know about homeworld?” Moonstone asked. When he was met with Ruby’s blank expression, he turned to Emerald. “I honestly thought he was just playing dumb.”

“Who are you calling dumb with your dumb looking eye screen?” Ruby retorted.

“Guys,” Citrine said. His tone caught their attention and Ruby put the ship down impatiently.

“What?” He asked, following Citrine’s eyes. They were staring at their footprints in the snow.

Ruby squinted.

“...There’s four of us, right?” He asked.

A green gem appeared in front of them out of nowhere, shaking and teeth bared.

He made a noise like a screaming animal and blindly lunged for Moonstone. Citrine struck Jade with the back of his palm, and the tiny gem was sent tumbling into the snow.

“AHHGH!” He cried.

Ruby recognized the gem and his hands ignited. “Jade! You fuckin runt!”

Jade scrambled to his feet at the sight of Ruby charging at him, spastically running away while putting a hand to his ear and yelling to himself, “Position compromised! You were right! They let him out, I r-I repeat they let him out!! ”

He flickered out of sight.

“Oh, of all gems to have to deal with,” Emerald grunted loudly. Moonstone held his hand up.

“No look,” Moonstone said and pointed to the snow. “He might be invisible, but he’s still there,”

Emerald scowled at him. “No shit.”

Ruby was throwing fireballs in all directions that fizzled out when hitting the snow, melting it around them. “Ugh! Where are you?!

“Ruby, knock it off! You’re making it easier for him to get away!” Emerald called out. He followed after the two of them. Ruby grit his teeth, hands going out as he stopped short.

“How else are we gonna get him?!”

Emerald stepped in front of Ruby and thrust his arms out. Wind began to whip around everywhere, tossing clusters of snow all around. The silhouette of the small green gem soon appeared, covered in snow while still running in all directions.

“Kickass!” Ruby complimented, hands blasting to life with flame once more.

Emerald’s gem shimmered and a boomerang emerged from it into his hands. He promptly tossed it into Jade, the weapon knocking him in the legs and causing him to cry out and fall to the floor. He became fully visible again.

Ruby tossed a fireball and landed a clean hit on Jade. In a burst of smoke, he was gone. Ruby’s hands immediately extinguished.

“Eh-! Did he escape?!” He demanded.

Emerald hurried over and picked up a gemstone, the oval gem that Jade held in his eye. “He’s right here.”

Ruby sighed in relief and flashed him a smile.

“That was awesome,” He said. Moonstone approached, looking around cautiously.

“It could have been a lot cleaner,” He mumbled. “Blindly chasing after him was excessive and reckless.”

Ruby scowled at him.

“I didn’t see _you_ doing anything about it.”

“We got him. That’s all that matters.” Citrine said, stepping between the two of them to get to Emerald. “Now that Sapphire doesn’t have his little helper, he’s not nearly as threatening.” He gestured for Emerald to hand over the gem. Emerald hesitantly complied.

“A Sapphire is a Sapphire,” Emerald said plainly. "It's... really unusual that he couldn't predict this..."  
  
Ruby stared at the Jade in Citrine’s hand.

“He’s gonna be _real_ mad now,” He mumbled. 

“Oh, he’s been mad,” Citrine waved Ruby off. “Point is he can’t get to us so easily anyone."

Emerald pursed his lips. “Let’s get to the mountain range.”


	2. Chapter 2

                                               

The gems settled in the base of a mountain, surrounded by a landscape of rock and snow. The ship, still broken, was a work in progress. Emerald was still trying to figure out the hardware, so when Citrine and Moonstone announced they were going to scout the area, Ruby stayed behind. He poked his head around the corner and watched Emerald work. He noticed that there an orange bubble that held Jade’s gemstone inside of it. He briefly wondered how Citrine was able to make that bubble but found himself constantly distracted by Emerald.

“Hey!” He called, loudly and suddenly. Emerald nearly tossed the piece of hardware he was working on up in the air but softened its fall back into his hands by buffeting it with the wind.

“What are you doing?” Emerald grunted, eliciting a grin from the other.

“I scared you.”

“Yeah, congratulations. Is that all?” Emerald growled.

“What’s that thing?” He asked, and invasively peered over Emerald’s shoulder.

Emerald’s eyes glanced up at Ruby’s, but quickly went back to the object in his hand. “If my memory serves me correctly, this is hardware for the destabilizing projector. It’s wired to have multiple layers of laser projection as gates so that assigned gem signatures can pass through the forcefield without destabilizing.”

Ruby watched Emerald talk, his eyes half-lidded and engaged. His gem glowed faintly.

“Mhm… That all it can do?”

Emerald raised an eyebrow but didn’t look away from the object. “Well, it’s hardware. Technically it can be reconstructed to do anything, as long as I figure out how the circuitry works. But it’s so flawlessly designed that I’m not sure I want to get rid of the signature features. As long as I figure out how to overwrite the key signatures with our key signatures instead, it could be a useful forcefield mechanism.”

“So you can make it do what you want. Change it so it does other things,” Ruby replied, his tone a bit honeyed.

Emerald glanced at Ruby warily.

“...That’s.. the nature of my job.”

Ruby took the object out of Emerald’s hands and held it out of his reach.

Emerald jumped to his feet, immediately on high alert and staring at the object in horror. “What are you doing?! Be careful with that!”

Ruby laughed.

“You’re so loud,” He teased. “It’s not gonna break.”

“I really doubt you know that for sure,” Emerald said, frowning. “Give it back.”

“What, you can’t reach?” Ruby snickered.

Seething, Emerald took his palm and blasted a sharp gust of wind into Ruby’s face. Ruby stumbled and scrambled to catch the hardware, barely grabbing it before it hit the ground. He looked up at Emerald, entertained.

“Ooh careful!” He taunted. “It almost broke.”

Emerald scoffed. “All I did was underestimate your reflexes, _Ruby.”_

“Oh okay,” Ruby rolled his eyes and handed the hardware back to Emerald. “Blame it on me.”

“I _did,_ ” Emerald said, protectively tucking the hardware under his arm. “Because it was your fault.”

“Hmm,” Ruby invaded the space between them, looked down at him warmly and squeezed his cheek. “Is it really all _my_ fault?”

Emerald’s eyes widened and he took a step back. Ruby tilted his head to the side, maintaining eye contact and chuckling.

“What? You’re not gonna yell at me some more?” He asked playfully.

Emerald’s frown returned. “Oh, is that what you’re after, you simple rock?”

Ruby laughed, his gem flickering with it. Emerald’s eyes fixated on it. He quickly turned away and shook his head.

“Fuse-happy Rubies.”

“Fuse-happy?” Ruby asked, wiping at his eye. “What’s that mean?”

“It means you’re inappropriate and delusional,” Moonstone growled. Ruby looked up at him.

“Oh. _You’re_ back.” He grumbled.

“Don’t forget about me~” Citrine chimed in, wrapping his arm around Moonstone and gesturing to himself in a comedically grandiose manner. Ruby quirked an eyebrow.

“Are you okay, Em?” Moonstone asked before looking at Citrine. “You should tell that Ruby to be more appropriate around his superiors.”

Ruby glared at him.

“I don’t like you.”

“I’m not his superior,” Emerald replied tersely. “Anyway, everything’s fine. How was scouting?”

Moonstone reported their findings about the surrounding mountain environment, ignoring Ruby’s numerous questions. After several minutes of being treated as though he didn’t exist, Ruby walked off irritably, leaving scorched footsteps in his trail.

He sat atop a particularly large boulder he’d spotted within eye shot of the base. It was really nice to be outside and not in a cage. Being away from Sapphire was great too. It didn’t really matter if he got along with these guys, as long as it meant that he never had to go back.

“Hey. You’ve been over here a while.”

Ruby turned his head at the sound of Citrine’s voice, surprised to see that he’d been followed. His nose wrinkled.

“What, you need me to lift something again?”

“Just seein how you’re doing,” Citrine said. He hopped up on the boulder to sit next to Ruby, but quickly jumped back off the rock with a hiss.

“Fuck, that’s hot man.”

Ruby couldn’t help but snicker to himself, placing his hands on the rock underneath him. Smoke came off the rock, swirling in the air around them as the surface cooled.

“Cool trick,” Citrine tested the surface of the rock before hopping up a second time. “Emmy and Moon went to observe some of the humans in the area. Humans are just one of the things that live here. You’ll learn all about em.”

Ruby looked away, wondering if Emerald would be gone for a long time.

“...So, I hear you wanna fuse.”

“Nope. I don’t even know what that means,” Ruby rolled his eyes and laid back on the rock, staring up at the grey sky. “I don’t know anything, remember?”

“ _Sure_ you do. You’re a Ruby, so you must’ve combined with other rubies before.”

“Combined?” Ruby stared at him from an upside-down angle.

“You know, became one bigger and stronger Ruby?” Citrine said, looking down at his gem. “I used to with other Citrines, too. It’s a soldier thing.”

Ruby sat up.

“How?”

Citrine seemed surprised at the eagerness, but only mildly. “You... never fused?”

“No.”

“You’re missing out, you know.”

“Do they fuse too? Emerald and Moonstone?” Ruby asked.

“Ohh, yeah. Those two are really close. It’s the main reason they became rebels,” Citrine explained. “They don’t really like fusing with anyone except each other.”

“Why?”

Citrine looked over to Ruby and his gem started to glow brightly. “You’d get it if you fused.”

Ruby looked at Citrine’s gem as it shined, his eyebrows lifting. His own gem flickered in response, alarming him a bit. He covered his gem and looked away.

“...I’ll suck at it.”

“Nah. You’re made for it.”

Citrine’s gem didn’t flicker at all like Ruby’s. The light was a nonstop glow.

“Made,” Ruby repeated, looking a little troubled. His hand fell away. “Made by who?”

Citrine raised an eyebrow. “Uh, who cares?”

Ruby met his eyes and his gem shimmered as the light grew stronger.

Citrine scooted close to Ruby. His eyes locked with the other gem’s and his hands slid over Ruby’s forearms. After a passing moment, their bodies began to turn into light and meld into one another. Their combining form grew frighteningly large in a matter of seconds, before everything stopped glowing and the form dissipated. Both of them were tossed to the ground. Ruby landed in the snow which instantly melted, his hands gripping the grass and burning it as he stared at the ground. His chest was heaving and his hands trembled.

Citrine lay still in the snow, utterly stunned.

Meanwhile, Emerald and Moonstone were carefully scouting the surrounding area.

Moonstone wore a knitted cap, tank top, and jeans, while Emerald was dressed in a thick sweater and shorts. Most importantly, their gems were covered. They walked through the forest together towards the town.

“It’s almost like we’re humans,” Moonstone mumbled to Emerald with a ridiculous grin on his face. “This is so exciting. I’ve never seen one up close.”

“Dressing this way is… an efficient disguise. It does make me want to get as close as possible. That way studying them will be so much easier,” Emerald agreed with a smile. “Your excitement is very contagious.”

“ _My_ excitement,” Moonstone scoffed. “You’ve been asking Citrine about humans for years!”

There was the sound of a twig snapping in the trees nearby. The two gems exchanged glances.

“...Is someone there?” Emerald called out. Everything was still.

“...Over there,” Moonstone said and nudged Emerald, nodding to the trees on their left.

A tiny girl was peeking her face out, her body concealed behind the trunk.

“Who are you?” She demanded. Her green eyes burned into them, her body stiff with nervous energy. Moonstone became distracted by her bright purple scarf.

“Oh, uh, we’re just two... _wanderers..._ looking for the nearest… civilization.”

Emerald phrased his words as casually as possible. Her eyebrows came down and she stepped out from behind the tree. She wore a large coat and yellow snow boots. In her hand was a rectangular, black device which she was pointing at them.

“Why are you dressed like that?” She asked and squinted, taking a step forward to get a better look at them. “...I don’t believe you.”

“Wha… Why not?” Moonstone asked, laughing nervously. “We’re um… tired! We need sleep from walking around for so long in the cold and snow.”

“Uh-huh,” The girl responded, her eyes narrowing. “And you just… lost your jacket and pants to some wild giraffes?”

“There are no giraffes in North America,” Emerald stated robotically. “But we did misplace those articles of clothing along the way. We’ve been exposed to the elements for a long time.”

“ _How_ long?” She asked, lifting the device higher. Emerald glared at it, hating how closely she was pointing it at his nose.

“Is that a weapon?”

“I’m asking the questions here!” The girl snapped. “How long have you been out here?”

“Months!” Moonstone exclaimed. “It-It’s just been so long, we gave up on searching for them!”

“Oh, yeah? Then why aren’t you _dead?”_ She asked. _“_ It’s below freezing every night and you don’t even have a--”

“Well, you see that’s why my friend here is so blue,” Emerald said gesturing to Moonstone. “He’s...  freezing to death.”

“Ha! You hear that?” She said and pointed the device at herself. “Oh, and I bet the green one just got food poisoning!”

“Well, he--” Moonstone started, but the girl pointed a finger at the both of them and turned the device to face them once more.

“I told you guys! Didn’t I tell you?” She said.

“Who are you talking to..?” Emerald asked.

“They’re fucking aliens!” She exclaimed excitedly. “I knew it! I’ve been tracking their ship and I got it on film too! Take that, Dad!”

The two went silent.

She went on. “I knew it! I knew I’d find evidence if I kept looking, and look, it’s staring right at me! Ha! I’ll get into any college I want for sure now!”

“You must be mistaken, uh…” Emerald started.

“Jesus Christ, did you really think you could just walk up to me being _green and blue_?” She laughed and pointed her phone at herself. “Oh, shit, it’s not live..! I gotta post this!”

Emerald pursed his lips and shot a blast of wind at the girl, knocking her over. She screamed and backed away in fear, her phone laying in the snow.

“Em!” Moonstone exclaimed. “Em, you can’t do that!”

“Female, you are going to jeopardize your own colony if you let them know of our existence!” Emerald said frantically. “Moonstone, her electrical device — try to short circuit it!”

Moonstone froze, looking at the girl who was trembling on the ground and staring up at them with wide eyes. He looked to Emerald, his eyebrows coming down.

“...This isn’t what we came here to do,” He said. “Look at her. She’s pathetic, she can’t hurt us. Why fear _her?_ We’re the ones making her fearful.”

“Oh my god…” She said breathlessly. “You… You’re _actually…_ aliens…”

Emerald stared at her blankly. “...Yes we’ve established this.”

“Oh my GOD!” She exclaimed. “I.. No, no. I’m-- This isn’t real!”

“What--what’s wrong with the female?” Moonstone asked.

She stared at him, blinking rapidly and standing, her legs shaking as she did.

“Is she malfunctioning? Did _we_ do that?”

“Female, are you hurt? All I did was blast you with wind. The gravity would have done more damage than--”

“Maybe the fall gave her brain damage,” Moonstone said. “Stars! Citrine is going to be so angry with us if we damaged her.”

“N-No, I’m-I’m not damaged,” Wendy said, wondering if this was all a dream. “I just… didn’t think I was actually… right.”

Emerald stared at her. “It’s foolish to be so sure of yourself when you think you’re wrong.”

Moonstone nudged Emerald before turning back to Wendy. “Human... Would you please delete the footage of us?”

“And why the hell would I do that?” She asked. “If… this is all real and not a fucked up dream I’m having. I’ve been looking for proof like this my whole life!”

“If you have footage of us we’ll be hunted down and exiled by your leaders, that’s why.” Emerald said.

“Well, maybe you should be! Why are you here in the first place if you don’t want to hurt us?” She demanded. “We’d just be protecting our planet from evil aliens like you!”

“Evil?” Moonstone asked, offended. Emerald rolled his eyes.

“Your tech is too primitive to protect yourself in any substantial way.” Emerald said.

“Is that a threat?” Wendy asked, starting to stand again.

“No! No, absolutely not!” Moonstone said. “We--”

“We’re the ones protecting this planet, not you. There are forces you can’t even comprehend looking to harvest this planets resources.” Emerald said. Wendy looked between them.

“Why protect us?” She asked. “How do I know you’re not the ones trying to harvest this planet’s resources?”

“Because we’re here and so is your planet,” Emerald answered. “If I wanted to harvest this planet it would already be done by now.”

“The things on this planet are very interesting to us. We don’t want to see it destroyed,” Moonstone added. “It would be a waste of life, human.”

Wendy was silent for a few moments. “...I have a _name._ My name is Wendy.”

“Delete the footage, _Wendy!_ ” Emerald snapped impatiently.

“I’m not deleting the footage!”

Moonstone put his hands out passively and stepped between them. His eyes were soft as he stared into hers, his tone as sweet as he could manage. “Please, Wendy. ...Isn’t there anything we can do to convince you to delete it?”

Wendy considered this.

“Well… maybe I won’t post it...   _If_ you answer all of my questions.”

Emerald narrowed his eyes at her.

“That is very appreciated,” Moonstone replied. “So which of the clouds do you store the information inside of?”

Wendy smirked. “Why would I tell you that?”

“No reason,” Moonstone said with the same plastered smile.

“What questions did you have,” Emerald deadpanned.

“Too many for you to answer in a day, that’s for sure,” Wendy said while rubbing her temples. “I… I need to think. This is so much at once. I don’t even know if I’m awake right now.”

“You’re not!” Emerald agreed. “You are unconscious. This is a delusion.”

Wendy scowled at him.

“Perhaps you could show us around the civilization while you think,” Moonstone suggested. Wendy laughed at the thought.

“Not with you two looking like that!” She exclaimed, gesturing to them. “You’re blue and green for crying out loud! You look like cosplayers.”

“We can’t change our skin colors,” Emerald grumbled.

“Wait-Wait, you really _do_ look like cosplayers.”

“...Is that good?” Moonstone asked.

“It could be,” She replied and looked at Emerald. “But… he needs pants.”

Back at the base, Citrine had gone back to scouting.

He had been climbing really tall pine trees and looking off into the mountains, anything to give Ruby some space. Since their almost fusion, Ruby hadn’t spoken a word to him. Ruby was sitting on the edge of a cliff and staring into the distance. Just as Citrine was about to try again, he heard his name from down below.

“Citrine!” Moonstone called.

Citrine caught view of Moonstone and Emerald with a human in tow and immediately jumped off the cliff, landing on his feet to close the distance between him and the others.

“Well well well, who do we have here?” Citrine cooed at the girl.

She crossed her arms. “Wendy.”

“Wendy, eh?” Citrine smiled. “Cute name. How old are you?”

She squinted as she recognized something about him.

“I’ve seen your face.”

Citrine quirked an eyebrow. “ _Another_ fan~?”

His current outfit glimmered and shaped itself into an orange parka with rusty sweatpants and gloves right before her eyes. “Does the name Kenny ring a bell?”

Wendy took a moment to process that he just magically changed clothes, before looking him up and down and nodding slowly.

“Yes... I’ve read conspiracy theories about you. I... thought they were stupid,” She said with a huff. “But I guess the tinfoil hatters on reddit weren’t completely crazy.”

Citrine laughed. “There’s so much footage of me too. It’s funny, right?”

“Yeah,” She smirked and looked him right in the eye. “It would’ve been a lot more dangerous for you if you, say, drove a _ship_ low enough for a human to _film._ ”

“I keep telling you, that wasn’t our ship,” Emerald huffed. “It was probably just your _brain damaged mind_ playing tricks on you.”

“I’d think so too if I didn’t have _up-close video of it,_ smartass,” Wendy shot back. Moonstone cleared his throat and looked at Citrine nervously.

“Yes, that… That seems to be the current situation, unfortunately. And she has that footage as well as footage of us speaking to her in one of the um… clouds,” Moonstone said, pointing at the sky. “The ones up there.”

“She’s probably fucking with you,” Citrine said. “Video of you guys talking to her isn’t a big deal. But you said you had video of a ship?”

Wendy shrugged and pulled it up on her phone before handing her phone to Citrine. The video was high quality and about thirty seconds of Emerald’s gigantic ship zooming past Wendy’s camera before pausing and hovering for several seconds before flickering out of sight with a deafening blast of light. She quirked an eyebrow at Citrine.

“You were saying?” She challenged. “And, by the way, my best friend has a copy. So feel free to delete it.”

Citrine held the phone up and looked it over. “Technology finally started going somewhere on this slow ass planet, huh?”

“Guess so,” Wendy replied. “So you can just--”

“Wait wait wait,” Emerald cut in. “It’s an actual ship?”

“Yeah it’s Sapphire,” Citrine said. “When was this taken and where?”

“Check the timestamp, I think it was a couple hours ago,” Wendy grumbled and took her phone back. “...Yeah. Two forty-seven. A couple miles away from here.”

“They could be anywhere,” Citrine sighed.

“He’s most likely watching us right now,” Moonstone mumbled.

Emerald glowered at the phone before flinching and looking around.

“Where’s Ruby?”

There was a gut-wrenching scream.

“What the hell--” Wendy gasped as Moonstone grabbed her.

“I will relocate her and return!” He announced and took off running while she yelled in protest.

“He’s on the cliff!” Citrine pointed to it.

He and Emerald bolted up towards the sound, Wendy’s phone dropping into a pile of snow.

Ice was formed around Ruby in pointed icicles, encasing him in a circle.

One of the icicles suddenly lodged into Ruby’s shoulder, the blood splattering Sapphire’s fancy, blue coat. Ruby screamed again, stifling it through bare teeth.

“Sorry, did that hurt?” Sapphire deadpanned. His gem glinted inches away from Ruby’s agonized face, his one functioning eye cold and merciless. His sharp fingertip scraped against Ruby’s jugular, leaving a deep glowing purple scratch that audibly hissed.

“ **_Fuck-You…_ **!” Ruby snarled, his eyes squeezing shut.

“Ruby,” Sapphire started. “I’m starting to get impatient. Tell me where my Jade is.”

Ruby’s eyes snapped open, clearly petrified of Sapphire’s tone. Despite this, he stared Sapphire down and unexpectedly spat embers in his eye in defiance.

Sapphire hissed in pain and yanked a jagged icy dagger out of his gem. Ruby’s agonized cry echoed off the trees as the dagger was lodged into his collarbone. Black smoke erupted from the wound as he struggled, tortured whimpers escaping him as the wound sizzled.

“Ruby!” Emerald screamed as he reached the cliff first, almost slipping on the ice that had covered the ground. Citrine steadied him and Emerald bolted towards the two of them, taking out his boomerang and chucking it at Sapphire.

Sapphire quickly dashed out of the way and a wall of ice shot up from the ground between them.

“Keep your nose out of this, Emerald!” Sapphire growled.

Ruby struggled against his binds, the dagger pulsing and jolting a burning pain into his bones.  

“Citrine!” Emerald yelled.

Citrine barreled into the ice wall, slamming his shoulder into it. It held.

Sapphire yanked Ruby’s chin up. Ruby stared back with hatred in his eyes, the black smoke rising above the ice wall and creating a cloud similar to that of a burning building.

“You’re _going_ to tell me where my Jade is,” Sapphire said. He twisted the knife around. “Or you’re going to feel a lot more pain for a much longer time.”

The torture was clearly working it’s magic on Ruby, his sounds becoming more and more unhinged as the blade dug around and blood spurted out of his wounds

“ _F-uck…!_ ”

“Is that what you want?” Sapphire asked. “Or do you want to stop feeling pain and _obey me?_ ”

Ruby’s chest heaved, his body trembling and smoking. He said nothing, tears leaking over and evaporating on his face as he remained defiantly quiet.

The ice chipped away, little by little, but there was so much of it that even with Citrine’s _axes_ it wouldn’t be quick enough.

“Ruby! You make **_heat!_ ** You can melt _all of this!_ ” Emerald screamed over the wall. Moonstone ran over, coughing as he entered the mess of smoke and surrounding ice.

Ruby’s gem lit up at Emerald’s words, and his body heated up in a pathetic attempt, clearly attempting to comply as it glowed slightly.

“It was never enough! Not for 150 _years,_ ” Sapphire taunted. Ruby’s eyes squeezed shut again, the glow of his body fading and returning; unable to maintain itself for long now.

Moonstone held his hand out to Emerald, his gem glowing. Emerald’s gemstone shone brightly and he nodded, taking Moonstone’s hand and squeezing it. They both turned into light and in an instant, a taller gem emerged out of the light.

He was pale green and clearly a mixture of the two.

The newly formed gem took out a sword and a boomerang, forming them into a massive cutlass. He plunged the blade into the ice with the momentum of his swing, and with that same momentum, the fusion spun into a cyclone, propelling through the ice.

The sound caught Sapphire off guard. The fusion blasted through the final layer of ice separating him from Ruby and Sapphire.

“You star forsaken Sapphire,” The fusion said with a calm kind of venom.

Ruby’s eyes opened wide.

Sapphire took a step back, creating another wall of ice, though this one was thinner. The fusion stepped forward and swung his free arm through the ice. The bits of ice whirled around his fist like a small tornado and then fired out at Sapphire.

Sapphire evaded this and made more icicles around them, attempting to trap them in a dome, but the fusion quickly negated this by forming another cyclone.

“Ruby!” The fusion shouted. “Listen to me, dammit!”

“I-! I’m trying!” Ruby insisted, eyes squeezing shut again. His body continued to attempt heating up, but the dagger responded to the heat by searing him from the inside out. Ruby was able to tear his arm free, but the moment his hand gripped the dagger’s handle the pain ripped into him with a much stronger pulse. He cried out and curled inwards, skewering himself further on the icicles and shivering violently.

“He won’t listen to you,” Sapphire said, landing back in front of the dome Ruby was trapped in. “He belongs to _me._ ”

Ruby’s eyes opened again, landing on Sapphire first, but then drifting towards the continuously reforming ice around them. His lips parted in surprise as he began to realize just how little control Sapphire had in this situation, how easy it would be to win if Ruby would just fight back a little bit more. He started to struggle again, despite the overwhelming urge to submit.

If only the dagger wasn’t so-

A figure landed in front directly of Ruby, dressed in a strange parka he hadn’t seen before. He looked Ruby in the eye for a brief moment, then grabbed onto the cold blade in his collarbone and ripped it out of him without hesitation. Ruby wailed at the shock alone, the angry purple glowing wound left sizzling violently in the dagger’s absence.

Heat flooded through his body to replace the searing cold, and fire whipped up angrily from Ruby’s feet, spreading out with his scream.

The intense heat got swept up in the wind current, ripping through the ice dome like it was nothing. The ice melted at an alarmingly fast rate, the excessive fire taking over the wind and becoming a spinning inferno.

Sapphire dashed away from Ruby, encasing himself in ice to protect from the heat. The ice quickly melted however, and before he knew it he was standing in a large puddle.

That puddle quickly circled around him as well, trapping him in a bubble of swirling water.

The inferno gradually calmed down into swirling embers and the fusion was unveiled to Sapphire, walking up to him.

“You got too cocky,” The fusion said calmly. “Equivocating fear with loyalty… hah. You really need to work on your _foresight._ ”

Sapphire glowered at them. “My foresight is working just fine.”

Before they could retort, a beam of light surrounded Sapphire. In the blink of an eye, he was whisked up into Emerald’s ship which was hovering overhead. It warped away.

The fusion paused, staring at the sky in disbelief.

“My ship..!” He took a breath and sighed. “It’s alright. He’s going to come back for the Jade.”

He turned back to Ruby, who was on the ground. The surrounding fire was continuously spreading out and gaining power in an almost protective manner. It wouldn’t stop. Citrine wasn’t even visible in the overpowering blaze and blinding thick, black smoke.

“Hey, Ruby, can you hear me?” The fusion asked, stepping towards him. He pooled some water together and tried to calm some of the fire down, stepping through the remainder of it to get to Ruby. The fire was easily doused until the only flames that remained were the ones that were encasing Ruby’s trembling body.

Citrine was unveiled as well, in a similar pose to Ruby, except his body was completely petrified. He was now the same color as his gem. He almost looked like solid gold.

The fusion looked between the two incapacitated soldiers and sighed to himself. He drenched Ruby with water, causing him to gasp sharply before sighing in relief. He fell to his side in a fetal position, still shaking, but his body visibly relaxing against the ground. He stared up unblinkingly at the fusion, and from his expression, it was easy to see he was not all there.

The fusion turned into light, splitting into two forms. Emerald knelt down to Ruby, taking him by the jaw and looking into his eyes.

“Ruby? Ruby, say something,” Emerald said softly. Moonstone’s eyebrows furrowed a bit.

Ruby’s lips parted and he blinked slowly. “...I didn’t.. tell him... bout Jade’s bubble...”

A smile formed on Emerald’s face. “I made a good choice setting you free.”

“Let’s move them,” Moonstone grumbled as he struggled to lift Citrine.

Ruby, though thoroughly exhausted, gave him a smile in return.

Moonstone looked at Emerald impatiently. “...Em? Did you hear me?”

“Yeah,” Emerald stood back up. “We have to form Prehnite again. They’re both too heavy.”

“I figured we would have to.” Moonstone said dryly.

They quickly reformed the fusion seen before, hoisting Citrine over his shoulder, then walking over and tucking Ruby under his arm.

“Ngmf,” Ruby mumbled, arms hanging loosely like noodles.

“How do you think I feel, you dense rock?” Prehnite grunted.

 


End file.
